Messages - Iaera

You guys were great! Thank you to those who ran it, and thank you to those who joined in on various underworld scum & villainy.

I wish I could have stayed longer, but by the end I was falling asleep at my keyboard and could barely string together a coherent sentence. But the event was so elaborate and well-crafted that I just had to stay as long as possible!

That and there's about 3,600 years between now and then! The US military can't stop redesigning all of its uniforms every 4 and a half years, so holding onto one design for 3600 years would be pretty impressive.

I'll just buy it on GTN if I have to, but I was hoping to avoid whatever ridiculously exorbitant price it starts getting listed for, since I prefer to reserve those credits for Custodum's gradual guildship expansion. I'll pay up to a decent percentage of whatever the going rate ends up being, if anyone here is willing to sell for a bit less than one could probably get on the GTN circus.

Also theoretically willing to trade, but most of the stuff I got from the new pack is junk. The most interesting thing I got is probably the Zakuulan Security upper, plus a variety of the rarer weapons and the Repair Droid weapon tuning.

A variant of the successful GSS-5C, the Krayt exists to provide the Sith Empire with an assault interdictor starfighter capable of punching well above its weight. Designed to deliver crippling strikes against larger capital ships and their escorts, it is a platform also capable of supporting nimbler starfighters with its vicious arsenal of torpedoes. Pilots are advised to avoid a serious dogfight, as its mass and general lack of manoeuvrability make it a liability in a close-quarters engagement. Instead, the Krayt should use the impressive range of its boosted torpedoes to hammer large targets before inflicting additional damage with its pair of heavy laser cannons.

Iaera's notes: I've been wanting to try this one for awhile! Although not fully leveled up yet, I got to try it out against Elaeis and several other Republic aces in an otherwise grueling match for the Empire, and it held up much better than I thought it would. I've never cared for the railgun gameplay they intended with gunships, and always likened them instead to the Imperial Assault Gunboat, a fat, slow attack craft loaded with missiles. Thanks to the recent changes, this playstyle is now much more viable with the Dustmaker, which allows stripping off the railguns for two torpedoes. As one might expect, it's pretty worthless in a real close-in dogfight, but it can lob its torpedoes at a disgusting 12,000m range! The target invariably dodges the first one, which usually makes them easy pickings for the second torp. Even better, by the time you're done locking and firing the second torp, your first torp is almost off cooldown, allowing a perpetual volley of death as long as your target is in the open!

The Krayt's weaknesses, aside from being a fat gunship useless in a dogfight, is its severe lack of engine-related abilities. Barrel Roll at least gives you an evasion and a little speed boost when leveled, but for an interdictor designed to get rapidly into position it will invariably struggle on engine power. It's absolutely brutal against exposed bombers, however, and if you don't mind spending the ammo it can also serve as an inefficient way to pick off drones, turrets, etc.

So the merge should be done and finished by Wednesday night (assuming no catastrophic errors)... would anyone like to fly some inaugural Begeren Squadron flights to represent BC that evening?

If so, please post a reply here, and we'll see if we can get enough for a group or two! (I don't think Ops groups can GSF queue?) Of course everyone's hours vary, but let's shoot for some flying somewhere in the range of 5PM PST/8PM EST to 9PM PST/12AM EST. Obviously most folks probably can't be there for that full range, but I'll try to be there for most of that to invite and coordinate people!

Discreet versus DiscreteDiscreet: Being circumspect. The opposite of ostentatious or obvious. Discrete: Describing two things that are separate from one another. "Those are two discrete issues that should not be conflated." Tip for remembering the difference: Discrete describes two things that are separate from one another, and appropriately it has a T separating the two instances of E right there in its spelling.

My preferred method: The Mediterranean island of Crete is a discrete landmass from mainland Greece!

Succeeding the Republic's Liberator as one of the Jedi Order's starfighters of choice, the Liberator-II variant of the NovaDive builds on its predecessor as a snubfighter ideal for the independent missions of a Jedi Knight. Equipped with an astromech socket and a hyperdrive, the Liberator-II is essentially a NovaDive with a few minor service life extensions and small-scale modifications to meet the needs of the Jedi Order. Primarily intended as an all-purpose starfighter capable of ferrying a Jedi Knight from system to system, it can still hold its own in the context of a larger battle, especially when aided by the famed flying reflexes of Jedi aces. Twin BlasTech HMC-15 medium laser cannons provide reliable if unexceptional firepower during a dogfight, and dumb-fired multiple-launch rocket pods allow for limited strikes against larger targets.

Iaera's notes: This is what Iaera has been flying (more or less) since day one! The idea is based heavily on the canon Liberator and Striker starfighters used by the Jedi Order of this time period, with the NovaDive serving as the logical upgrade from those older fighters. As a T1 scout with Rockets, it's perfectly capable of DPSing down anything that lingers in your sights, and excels in a hunter/killer role against enemy gunships. It has the engine power to move around the map with utter impunity, and no gunship can escape it. Its only real weakness is dedicated bomber/gunship deathballs, where there are simply too many mines, drones, and railguns making survival impossible.

The Halberd variant of the FT-6 Pike is designed to build upon the already solid Pike platform by specialising it as a medium-range interceptor without sacrificing its multi-role mission capabilities. Its primary purpose is to interdict and destroy Imperial light bombers such as the Legion while still serving as an effective space superiority platform against the heavier Imperial fighters currently in service. The Halberd's modus operandi is to use its speed to maintain clear firing positions at range, safely apart from the chaos of a short-range furball, and destroy targets with its complement of proton torpedoes and concussion missiles. Should the Halberd be forced into a closer engagement by light Imperial fighters such as the Blackbolt, it can defend itself with the considerable firepower of its Merr-Sonn LCQ-4 quad laser cannons.

Iaera's notes: I've used this setup pretty frequently before the changes, but now it should be significantly more effective. The Strike Fighter's overall buffs, enhanced lasers, and the buffs to proton torpedoes in particular should make this "interceptor" build a lot nastier in a serious match. As mentioned, in excels primarily in stopping Bombers from reaching a satellite, killing them in mid-flight before they turtle underneath the sat and become much harder to kill. Even with the missile and Strike buffs, however, it's still going to struggle against dedicated gunships, who outrange it.